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About CRB and Mission Statement

The Cleveland Review of Books, founded in 2018, was launched in order to fill a perceived critical gap in the city and Midwest at large. CRB, at its most basic level, is a regionally-focused online journal (with a print magazine supplement) of literary, cultural, and arts criticism.

We try to focus on issues relevant to the Midwest, prioritize regional subjects, and make a concerted effort to publish writers who are natives or residents of the Midwest (particularly Clevelanders) alongside national, and global, writers. However, as other “Review of Books” publications based on the coasts or in major European cities demonstrate, a journal like ours can do more than just publish pieces of writing.

Our contention is that, through publishing, events, conversation, and shared experiences in the world and online, we can help foster a critical attitude toward culture amongst our Midwestern readership while harboring a discussion that is worth the attention of a national readership. Most importantly, we aim to cultivate community through reading, reflection, aesthetic contemplation, thinking, understanding, awe, and writing.